Important: Plate artwork
submitted using a template to qualify for the order discount is printed “as is,” and
does not receive our “before and after” design service.

The $50 discount also applies to reorders that reuse identical plate artwork. No time limit, art kept permanently.

Standard
no-charge colors vary depending on the type of
license plate ordered. Links to the relevant color charts
are provided below for each plate item number.

To qualify for
our $50 order discount you must
use a template below to prepare digital print-ready art, and follow
the artwork requirements. The templates are intended for
professionally trained graphic designers or those with equivalent
experience who work regularly with Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw. In addition, you should be familiar with standard printing industry trade practices
for preparing your file for spot-color or CMYK output (whichever the case may be) to qualify for the discount. These are
covered in the artwork requirement links further below, but the
main requirements are:

Professionally drawn and built vector paths and
objects that color-separate cleanly and can be trapped easily.

Mounting holes do not punch through critical artwork unless you notify us it’s okay in advance, so we don’t spend time to fix.

Save or export the file in Adobe Illustrator .ai or
.eps vector format, any version through CC (Creative Cloud).

Include a JPG, PNG, or PDF version separately for visual
reference,
so we can verify that your vector .ai or .eps file opens and displays
correctly.

The idea is that you should have enough experience with professional
graphics file preparation that you readily understand how to meet the
outlined requirements, to save us the majority of the file prep work
we would otherwise perform. If you, or any outside designer you
may have worked with to create your art, are not familiar with Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw, or what
vector artwork is, it’s unlikely your artwork will qualify for
the discount. If you’re unsure about anything, ask ahead of time — we’re
more than happy to answer questions about artwork. Ensuring properly
built art is in everyone’s best interest in saving time and money,
not to mention seeing that your artwork gets printed as intended.

We will in some cases give partial discount
credit, at our discretion, depending on how much time your
file saves us, even if it does not fully meet the requirements, so it’s
not an “all
or nothing” proposition.
But be reasonably
certain you have the know-how before
investing your time. Normally this means you’re skilled with a
vector-drawing program like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw.
Or Photoshop may be used to prepare artwork for process-color output,
but the
art should still be placed and cropped as it is intended to print in one
of our vector templates, and saved as an Illustrator vector .ai or .eps file (not Photoshop .eps).

Be sure to choose the appropriate product template for the
item number you’re ordering.
Templates contain plate and mounting hole outlines, and specify
margin areas to aid in making allowances for art placement. (Exact plate size, corner radius, mounting hole shape/size, and margin requirements vary depending on the item number.)

Full-bleed printing is possible, at no extra charge, though bleeds using wide areas of solid ink coverage are not recommended. (Standard outer margin is 1/4”.) There is some variance in repeatability during die-cutting of the plates after printing, with the risk that bleeds may not extend fully to plate edge. Generally this means avoid bleeds with wide expanses of solid color, but artwork with tapered shapes that come to a point or tangent near, at, or slightly past the plate edge can work. That is, if the chance they may fall somewhat short of the plate edge, or further past the edge, than you had planned is not an issue, then go ahead with that proviso in mind.

Printed on white bla nks with white background only. (Colored backgrounds using ink do not look good on this item, due to 1/16” ink margin requirement around mounting holes on these plates, which use pre-cut bla nks.)

11 different
tag-bla nk colors available for item
#40031 at no extra charge, including painted gold, painted silver,
and natural aluminum. Item #40033 comes in deluxe gold or silver
only (both with a near mirror-like surface).

11 different
tag-bla nk colors available for item
#40831 at no extra charge, including painted gold, painted silver,
and natural aluminum. Item #40833 comes in deluxe gold or silver
only (both with a near mirror-like surface).